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Egypt’s Endowments Ministry to Combat Drug Abuse among Public Sector Employees

Egypt’s Ministry of Endowments is planning to carry out a series of measures to combat drug abuse among public sector employees.
Egypt’s Ministry of Endowments is planning to carry out a series of measures to combat drug abuse among public sector employees.
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Egypt’s Endowments Ministry to Combat Drug Abuse among Public Sector Employees

Egypt’s Ministry of Endowments is planning to carry out a series of measures to combat drug abuse among public sector employees.
Egypt’s Ministry of Endowments is planning to carry out a series of measures to combat drug abuse among public sector employees.

Egypt’s Ministry of Endowments is planning to carry out a series of measures to combat drug abuse among public sector employees.

The Ministry unified Friday prayer sermons at all the country’s mosques to address the dangers of drugs and addiction. The sermon was also published on the Ministry website in several languages.

The government continues to implement intense anti-drug measures by carrying out tests for all the public sector employees, threatening to fire those who do not take these tests. It also allows employees to apply for addiction treatment in secret and free of cost.

Legislative amendments will be made to impose harsher measures against drug abuse and they will be applied to all workers, an informed source said.

The source, who is a ministry employee, said: “These tests aim to protect society from the threats of by drug abuse.”

President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi had previously stressed that Egypt will fire any employee found to be abusing drugs.

He made the announcement shortly after a railway employee involved in a deadly Cairo train station accident in February tested positive for narcotics.

Sisi vowed that the employee will be held accountable by law.

The Ministry of Endowments explained that it chose to translate the Friday sermon as part of its duty to raise awareness, adding that it sought to demonstrate that Islam was a religion of peace and mercy that promotes tolerance and coexistence.

It stressed that drugs and addiction, and terrorism are two sides of the same coin as both are deadly to the users. Wasting money on drugs is no different than wasting money to carry out terror acts, it said.

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Italy’s Foreign Minister Heads to Syria to Encourage Post-Assad Transition

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks to the media a he arrives for a meeting at Rome’s Villa Madama, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025 on the situation in Syria after the collapse of the Assad regime. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini (Andrew Medichini/AP POOL)
Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks to the media a he arrives for a meeting at Rome’s Villa Madama, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025 on the situation in Syria after the collapse of the Assad regime. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini (Andrew Medichini/AP POOL)
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Italy’s Foreign Minister Heads to Syria to Encourage Post-Assad Transition

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks to the media a he arrives for a meeting at Rome’s Villa Madama, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025 on the situation in Syria after the collapse of the Assad regime. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini (Andrew Medichini/AP POOL)
Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks to the media a he arrives for a meeting at Rome’s Villa Madama, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025 on the situation in Syria after the collapse of the Assad regime. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini (Andrew Medichini/AP POOL)

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said he would travel to Syria on Friday to encourage the country's transition following the ouster of President Bashar Assad by insurgents, and appealed on Europe to review its sanctions on Damascus now that the political situation has changed.
Tajani presided over a meeting in Rome on Thursday of foreign ministry officials from five countries, Britain, France, Germany, Italy and the United States.
The aim, he said, is to coordinate the various post-Assad initiatives, with Italy prepared to make proposals on private investments in health care for the Syrian population.
Going into the meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and their European counterparts, Tajani said it was critical that all Syrians be recognized with equal rights. It was a reference to concerns about the rights of Christians and other minorities under Syria’s new de facto authorities of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HT.
“The first messages from Damascus have been positive. That’s why I’m going there tomorrow, to encourage this new phase that will help stabilize the international situation,” Tajani said.
Speaking to reporters, he said the European Union should discuss possible changes to its sanctions on Syria. “It’s an issue that should be discussed because Assad isn’t there anymore, it’s a new situation, and I think that the encouraging signals that are arriving should be further encouraged,” he said.
Syria has been under deeply isolating sanctions by the US, the European Union and others for years as a result of Assad’s brutal response to what began as peaceful anti-government protests in 2011 and spiraled into civil war.
HTS led a lightning insurgency that ousted Assad on Dec. 8 and ended his family’s decades-long rule. From 2011 until Assad’s downfall, Syria’s uprising and civil war killed an estimated 500,000 people.
The US has gradually lifted some penalties since Assad departed Syria for protection in Russia. The Biden administration in December decided to drop a $10 million bounty it had offered for the capture of a Syrian opposition leader whose forces led the ouster of Assad last month.
Syria’s new leaders also have been urged to respect the rights of minorities and women. Many Syrian Christians, who made up 10% of the population before Syria’s civil war, either fled the country or supported Assad out of fear of insurgents.